Les Petites Ecuries is a new restaurant in a hip, slightly sketchy area behind the Grands Boulevards, also known for the great restaurant Vivant, and a number of trendy bars.

They opened just this summer in an old fur coat shop, and the interior design – including a giant wall of plants – is pretty spectacular. But is it all mouth and no trousers?

Here’s our review.

You can say one things about Les Petites Ecuries – they’ve certainly made an effort with the design. The giant plant wall and interior terrace draw you in, other smart touches like brake lights all along the bar and Diesel lamps are in pretty good taste, and there are plenty of cosy corners to snuggle into.

We weren’t big on the blue neon in one corner upstairs, and the area (Faubourg Saint-Denis) should be navigated with care, but the space has a lot going for it, and many of the design clichés found elsewhere are absent here. If only for that, we are very grateful.

The menu is not the longest we’ve ever seen but the dishes are appetisingly described and prices are correct (16€ – 26€ for a main dish, although the starters seem a little pricey at around 12€ each).

We choose their pasta dish, the triangolini (basically triangular ravioli) with boletus mushroom and cream of truffle. Service was quick (but not worryingly quick like some restaurants, where you wonder if they’ve just snipped a sachet and heated it up) and it smelled divine when posed on the table.

Our other dish was the fish burger. Bespoke burgers are all the rage in Paris at the moment for some reason, and this one turned up looking impressively high and moody (thanks to the dark bun), its two fish cakes separated by a fine slice of beetroot. Impressive-looking to be sure, but nigh impossible to bite into as a whole. What’s the point of a burger if it has to be taken apart to be eaten?!

Apart from that minor gripe, the fish wasn’t too greasy, and the tartare sauce was yummy, so we deemed it a success.

All desserts are made in-house, so we ordered a lemon tart , supposedly ‘revisited’ in the style of a ‘parfait’. A ‘parfait’ is actually a frozen dessert, which this wasn’t, so we didn’t quite understand what they meant. In any case, it was served in a glass pot with meringue pieces, was light (not like some sort of thick lemon curd) and pleasantly tangy without being harsh on the tongue.

As for the cheesecake (which past experience has taught us can vary from solid stodge to frothy and tasteless), it was light, creamy and obviously very fresh. Full marks for both desserts!

As the meal came to a close, we also enjoyed our visit to the bathroom area in the basement, where the ever-changing lights highlight ever-different drawings on the wallpaper (well, it almost works). Makes a change from the metro-style tiles that everyone else uses…

Finally, a word for the staff – they’re young, but super kind and very efficient, which makes a welcome change.

The only thing that we found really disagreeable is that people are allowed to smoke across the whole front of the restaurant, even if your table is about 5 metres back from the entrance. Smoking laws in Franc allow smoking on an open terrace, but Les Petites Ecuries’ interpretation of the law goes a bit too far – just because the front of the place is open, doesn’t mean it’s one big terrace.

We had people glibly smoking all around us while we ate, which was pretty nasty. The architecture of the place has obviously been conceived to encourage this, explaining why the place is continuously busy no doubt. If you’re a smoker you’ll be happy, otherwise, be warned.

The restaurant Les Petites Ecuries (here) is open every day of the week, from Monday – Saturday 8-2am, and Sundays from 11.30am – 5pm

e-mail: lespetitesecuriesparis@gmail.com

Tel. +33 (0)1 48 24 02 90

Page Facebook : here

To check out all our photos of the restaurant Les Petites Ecuries, click the play button below, then click the four little arrows bottom right to go into fullscreen mode.